Stone setting apparatus



June 4, 1968 A. R. SMITH 3,386,412

STONE SETTING APPARATUS Filed July l5. 1966 .j -Y INVENTOR United States Patent O 3,386,412 STONE SETTING APPARATUS Albert R. Smith, 625 Robert St., Lansing, Mich. 48910 Filed July 15, 1966, Ser. No. 565,480 8 Claims. (Cl. 118-209) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Rows of small stones slide down an inclined bottom in a hopper and onto a shelf. A reciprocating plunger drives rows of stones oif the shelf and into an adhesive layer on a vertical wall surface, the hopper being moved at the same time. This results in a stone-faced Wall surface with the stones being substantially evenly set into the wall.

This invention relates to a stone setting apparatus and in particular to the setting of ston'es into an adhesive matrix on a vertical wall surface.

Heretofore, in making ornamental panels or decorator surfaces on vertical walls, the practice has been to coat the wall with an adhesive layer which forms a matrix and then to hand set small stones or .aggregate into the matrix. This is expensive manual labor. Blowers have been tried to throw the stone into the rmatrix. Another method is to shovel large handfuls of stone into the matrix and to allow the excess to fall into a catch box for re-use. These methods are relatively slow. The matrix into which the stones are placed is usually an epoxy cement.

For ornamental purposes, it is `desirous to have the sharp or jagged edges of the stones exposed and the ilatter side of the stones embedded in the matrix. Such produces shadow effects which are not obtanned by the heretofore used methods which tend -to embed the sharp, irregular edges of rthe stones and not the flattest sides of the stones.

The object of this invention is to produce an apparatus which will mechanically apply stones to a vertical Wall surface at a rapid and uniform rate and which, at the same time, will tend to bed the fiattest sides of the stones in the matrix and leave the jagged irregular edges exposed.

In general, these objects are obtained by a simple apparatus composed essentially of a hopper, a shelf for receiving stones from the hopper and a power driven plunger bar for pushing the stones oif the shelf into a matrix on a `vertical wall surface. The apparatus is moved on rails parallel to the wall surface and the stones are quickly set into the matrix as the apparatus is moved along the rails. The stones are uniformly `applied on the Wall surface and, because of the turning of the stones as they are pushed toward the matrix, the stones tend to have their attermost surfaces embedded in the matrix leaving their sharp jagged edges exposed. The apparatus is thus different from :a machine for applying reiiective beads to a vertical surface, such as shown in Wilson No. 2,612,374, or a mortar tamping device, such as shown by Rutka No. 2,622,434.

The means by which the objects of the invention are obtained are described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view through the apparatus in position for applying stones to a vertical wall surface;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view of the front side of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged detail of FIGURE 1 showing the application of the stones to a wall.

As shown in FIGURE 1, the apparatus is composed n r i ICC of a front wall 12, side walls 14 and 16 and an inclined lbottom 18, the walls :and bottom fonming a hopper which has an elongated rectangular outlet opening 20 at the lower edge of the front wall 12. This opening is controlled by a gate 22 adjustably mounted on the front wall `12 by means of bolts 26 extending through slots 28 in gate 22. The lower side of the apparatus is closed by a shelf 3G which is coextensive with and secured to the side Walls 14 and 16. Slidably supported on this shelf is a plunger drive bar 32 which is slidable `beneath the bottom `18 and the outlet opening 20. This plunger bar extends across the entire length of opening 20 and is faced with a medium soft rubber layer 32a cemented to the bar and 4being about 0.625 inch thick. A pair of springs 34 are attached between the plunger -bar 32 and the rear edge of shelf 3? for retracting the plunger bar. Motor means composed preferably of 1an electric motor 36 reciprocates a rod 38 to strike plunger bar 32. Preferably the end of the rod 38 is not connected to plunger bar 32 although satisfactory results are obtained when the rod and -bar are joined.

Mounted on sides 14 and 16 adjacent front wall 12 are flanges 4() through which are threaded bolts 42. The free ends of these bolts ride on vertical tracks 44 which are set against and spaced from the surface of a vertical wall 4S. This vertical Wall has an iadhesive surface layer 50 which may be of hydraulic cement, plaster, synthetic resin, and usually an epoxy cement.

In operation, the trtcks 44 are set up against the vertical wall surface. The bolts 42 -are then turned to space the front edge of the shelf about a distance equivalent to about one and one-half the diameter of the size of the stones being applied to the surface. Stones 65d are then placed in the hopper and then the apparatus lifted and held at the top corner of the wall panel to which the stones are being applied. The thickness of the matrix 50 is not more than one-half the `diameter of the minimum stone size used. Starting at the top of the track, the motor is started and the yapparatus moved down the track at the rate of about four feet per minute. The tracks 44 are approximately eighteen inches apart. As the machine is moved downwardly, stones fall through outlet opening 20 onto shelf 40 and there will be at least three rows of stones lbetween the plunger bar 32 Aand the end of the shelf. Motor 36 causes rod 38 to strike bar 32 and drive the stones toward the matrix 50. After each stone, the bar 32 is retracted by springs 34. A conventional hedge trimmer electric motor driving rod 38 at 1,000 stroke per minute with a stroke of from about 0.75 to 1.0 inch is preferred. Springs 34 help to balance lthe bar. As show in FIGURE 4, the stone dropping by gravity from the hopper onto the shelf falls in front of bar 32 and drives the stones in front of it toward the matrix. This tends to wedge against and turn the stone in front of it which in turn produces a similar action on the stone at the end of the shelf. The stone at the end of the shelf is moving at a sufficient velocity so that as it leaves the shelf it falls by gravity and is thrown against the matrix so that its attestmost side becomes embedded in the matrix 50 while one of its irregular jagged edges remains exposed. This action is believed to be at least partly due to the fact that the rapid reciprocation of bar 32 causes a vibration which not only thrusts the stones forward but jiggles them so that the stones tend to turn over. The gate opening 20 is about two stone diameters in order to permit the free fall of the stones out of the hopper -by gravity. After the vertical length of the panel has been `finished, the tracks are moved to the adjacent wall panel surface and the process repeated. Some joints may be left which can be easily hand-filled with a few stones and any apparently loose stones can be more firmly set by patting them with a rubber float.

Any size stone suitable for application to a vertical wall surface can be used. Typically, quartz stones having diameters from one-fourth to one-half inch are used. The apparatus will set from six to eight square feet of stone per Iminute as compared to the hand-setting process which averages about two square feet per minute.

Having now described the means by which the Objects of the invention are obtained, I claim:

1. A stone setting apparatus for applying stone to a vertical wall surface comprising a hopper for receiving a plurality of stones, an elongated rectangular stone outlet opening at the bottom end of said hopper, a substantially horizontal shelf beneath said opening for receiving rows of stones dropped through said opening, and drive bar means for pushing rows of stones off of said shelf and onto a Vertical wall surface.

2. An apparatus as in claim 1, said drive bar means comprising a plunger bar, and motor means for reciprocating said bar.

3. An apparatus as in claim 2, said hopper comprising vertical front and side walls and an inclined bottom, and said outlet opening being located at the lower end of the front Wall.

4. A11 apparatus as in claim 3, said shelf being eX- tended outwardly beyond said outlet opening, and said side walls being coeXt-ensive with said shelf.

5. An apparatus as in claim 4, further comprising gate means mounted on said front. wall for adiusting the size of said outlet opening.

`6. An apparatus as in claim 5, said plunger bar being slidably mounted on said shelf.

7. An apparatus as in claim 6, further comprising spring :means attached between said plunger bar yand said shelf for retracting said plunger bar.

S. An apparatus as in claim 7, further comprising a medium soft rubber layer on said plunger bar facing said outlet opening.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,466,492 8/ 1923 Siriss 221--241 XR 2,271,788 2/1942 Wheeler 118-241 XR 2.647.029 7/1953 Deland 221-268 XR 2,716,973 9/1955 Desi 221-268 XR 2,852,160 9/1958 Danjczek 221-268 XR 3,101,045 8/1963 Van Endert.

3,138,287 6/1964 Kireta 221-268 XR 3,298,568 1/1967 Brocq 221-268 XR CHARLES A. WTLLMUTH, Primary Examiner.

i R. I. SMlTH, Assistant Examiner. 

